We hear you

It’s been just over a week since we launched our brand new iPhone app, and we want to say thanks to all of you who’ve downloaded it, tried it out, and let us know what you think. It’s been great hearing from everyone who’s excited about the new app, and we’ve also really appreciated all of you who’ve gotten in touch to let us know ways in which you think we could make it better. We hear you.

When we started work on the iOS project, it was clear that we didn’t just need to do a redesign: to keep up with the incredible growth that’s been driven by everyone who uses SoundCloud, we needed to rewrite the entire iOS app from the ground up. Helping those of you who create music & audio build your audience is central to our mission at SoundCloud. We wanted to make the app friendly and welcoming so that more people can discover new artists, tracks and playlists.

Some products and features that we launch are more listener focused, while others, like city stats, are built specifically for creators. We are constantly working on new features for both creators and listeners and we will continue to do so. For those of you looking for a mobile record experience, we’ve partnered with Retronyms on the AudioCopy app, which lets you record on the go and upload directly to SoundCloud.

Keeping the products we build easy to use and straightforward to understand takes time. Simple is complex. What we released last week was just the first step: we’re already working on new features. Playlist creation is one of them: we understand how important it is for you to be able to create playlists in the app, but we wanted to rethink it completely, and knew this would take time. And we don’t just want to tell you about it: here’s an early look at what we’re working on.

Adding tracks to existing playlists: Playlist creation is a complex feature, but we want to make it feel simple, obvious and intuitive. So we’re using images and big targets to help you find the right playlist at a glance. Tapping the plus button will still allow you to create a new playlist, but we’re focusing on making it easier to add to the ones you’ve already built.

Creating new playlists: We wanted to make this easier, too. No playlists yet? We’ll take you straight to the creation function, so you can skip a step. You’ll get an auto-suggested title so you don’t have to worry about creative naming when you’re out and about.

And unlike the old app, all your new playlists will be private by default — you can change them to public once you’re ready to share your great taste with the world. All in one tap.

We’ll keep you posted on this and more upcoming developments. And we hope you’ll continue to keep us posted, too: being open is important to us, which is why we appreciate hearing from you when you’re frustrated, as well as when you love what we’re doing. Your passion and support is what keeps us moving forward.